Silent Hill: Away From Me
by Alvaro The Sinner
Summary: Kristin has been looking for an escape from her life, and finds herself stranded in the town of Silent Hill. What will happen when she experiences eye opening moments to her own problems in life?
1. 1: Unwelcome

**Chapter One:**

**Unwelcome**

**I.**

Interstate 80 was a peaceful and serene place for Kristin Russell as she drove away from home, not looking back once. She never wanted to see that place again. She wanted to set miles between her and Florida, hell she wanted to be on the other end of the world after the fight she had with her family. Kristin was just never good enough to be the pearl of their eyes. Kristin would always be a mistake somewhere and deserved to be told where her place was. She didn't want that. She wanted a divide between that pain and the new Kristin Russell.

The state was nice, however, and Kristin almost felt that this might be enough space between her and the family. Nevada was just beautiful in the fall. The leaves of the tree sea were just beginning to brown and the smells of Autumn made the air delightful. It was hot and humid, no, but cool, brisk, something that made the skin on Kristin tingle just a bit. She liked that.

Was Nevada the same in the summer though? Winter? Maybe Spring could show some horrid changes from this wonderful time of year. Kristin did not want to stay somewhere with a feeling that wasn't constant. Hell, she knew her mother wasn't ever a constant in her life. Kristin's mother would be fine and moments later yell at her, call her horrid names (like whore and bitch). At times she didn't even respond to her daughter. Kristin would then get a delightful message from her, a sort of apology, but did not even feel real enough. Kristin couldn't stand those constant changes. Not like the world and its always changing seasons.

Kristin felt her foot push more steadily on the gas, going anywhere that was further away from home. One of her hands drifted off to the radio and turned it on. A few stations only offered blue grass music and one held a static version of some Katy Perry song.

"Stupid radio," Kristin mumbled, turning the audio off.

Kristin saw a sign off in the distance, indicating a town was only five miles off. Silent Hill was the name. She sighed, letting her eyes drift down toward the clock on the radio. It was late. Dark. She wasn't sure if it was right to keep driving at this time of day. Maybe a quick stop in this town would help ease her mind a bit and let her stop running for a moment.

Her head shook at the thought, her foot pressed even harder on the gas pedal. Kristin needed to keep driving further or else she wasn't going to find that divide she was hoping for. Her family would come to Nevada for sure, looking for her and yell about Kristin's mistake for running away. Again. The last time, a police force looking for her found her in a pit stop in of Georgia. Kristin wouldn't let that mistake happen again. Not this time. Kristin would get as far away as she possibly could.

A phone in the cup holder rang. Kristin's phone. Her eyes drifted down toward the device. She kept telling herself not to pick it up. Another part of her mind told her too, though. Told her to tell that family what they would be missing.

She picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Kristin answered weakly, her voice cracking from some fear.

"Kristin? Are you alright?"

The voice of her father was comforting. Kristin knew that her father was more rational than her mother, and sometimes he would listen to her words.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine Dad."

"That's good. Your mother is worried about you."

'Yeah, right,' Kristin could hear the sarcasm in her thoughts. 'Next she'll tell you that she wants me to come home.'

"She wants you to come home."

"Predictable."

"What?"

Kristin shook her head, keeping a steady hand on the wheel of the car. She let her thoughts slip into the conversation, something she usually held back. Why was she so vocally ready to call her father out on all the crap now though?

"Nevermind that," her father sounded agitated. "Look, can't you just come home."

"I'm not coming back."

"Well what's wrong?"

Kristin could feel her knuckles ache. One hand was gripping tightly to the steering wheel, the other holding the phone so tight it might have cracked in her grip.

"You know what's wrong Dad."

"No I don't. You worry me when you do these things."

"And you all make me run away when you do those things."

"What things?"

"You know damn well what!"

Kristin felt her face reddening, but she wasn't sure why this package of emotion was surfacing now. She should have told her family off a long time ago. Her dad, her mom, her sister, the whole package. She should have told them to just go die.

"You always stick by Mom's side even though she's wrong half the time. You know when she is wrong too yet you just let her say what she wants to me. You let her speak so, so, god I can't even describe how angry you make me when you just stand by her side when she calls me a cunt and throws me out."

"You know she doesn't mean it."

"Then why would she say it Dad?"

"Well... sometimes your mother is really stressed."

"Stressed my ass. I'm stressed all the fucking time and you don't see me calling her names! You don't see me telling her to drink herself to death every night!"

Kristin could hear her father sigh, definite frustration building inside of him. She liked it; he needed to know how she felt.

"Can't you just listen to yourself Kristin? You don't sound yourself. Are you sure you're alright? You should come home and we'll talk about it."

"Don't you get it!" Kristin was suddenly surprised by the volume of her voice. "I don't want to go back to that hell hole!"

Her eyes were away from the road, looking off. Kristin looked back up, and within moments her foot shifted toward the brakes. A man was beginning to cross the road, the Interstate of all places, and stood before Kristin's vehicle. Her car swerved, screeched as the brakes banged against the speeding wheels, attempting to stop the machine from running into this man. Kristin could see it though, she was going to hit him and the police would come. The police would fine her, take her back home, do terrible things.

But the car barely missed the man. The brakes continued to howl as the car was tossed off the side of the highway into the sea of autumn colored trees. Kristin screamed bracing herself with the steering wheel as the car spun like a tea cup ride over and over. When the wheels finally stopped, she could feel the intense ache of her fingers and the burning of her lungs as she tried to control her breathing.

The car had stopped near a highway exit, exit 43 to Downtown Silent Hill. Kristin took her gaze from the sign to her phone, which had fallen to the floor on the passengers side. She picked it up, hearing her Dad constantly call out for her in a panicked, distressed voice. She hung up the phone.

"I'm not going home... not even now..." Kristin said allowed, staring at the call ended screen.

**II.**

The car stopped and the lights went out. The engine muffled to a complete silence and it seemed all at once to crash down on Kristin. She was away from home, but now her car wasn't going anywhere. She was going to be stranded out in the middle of Nevada where no one would find her. She had been the only car on the Interstate at the time. Kristin even wondered if anyone in the small, country area was awake at the time, at eleven forty-seven. She held her tired hands to her face and began to cry silently.

"What do I do?" She quietly asked. "I can't just stay here."

Kristin grabbed at the key and began to try and start the ignition again. The engine rumbled about once or twice, but never really started itself. The motor didn't seem to survive the extreme accident it was in.

The driver's door opened weakly against Kristin's push. Her legs slowly turned toward the outside, and she stood there. She held the top of her car door for a good few moments trying to keep herself sane. Kristin was realizing that, in her want to run, she was now stranded without anyone or anything to rely on. She wouldn't call the police since they would just drag her back to Florida. She wouldn't call the insurance since it was under her fathers name. Everything would eventually link back to home.

Her feet shuffled forward a bit. She closed the car door. She stuffed the keys in her pocket, along with her cell phone. Kristin had to find a way to move alone.

She took another step toward the off ramp. There was no sign of life don the road toward Silent Hill other than the lit streetlamps guiding her toward the town. That was her best chance. Kristin could make it to town and have a tow truck pick up the car, the one thing in her name, and have some company in town fix it for her. She would be back up and running away from home. Kristin would be able to move away again and find that long divide.

A thought occurred to her. What about the man that had stopped in the middle of the street? Why was he just standing there, waiting for her car to hit him? He didn't move, didn't flinch, he just stood there looking at her car. Waiting for her.

She wasn't going back to look for him. Kristin relied on watching too many horror movies and knew it was a bad idea to follow the mysterious stranger into unspeakable dangers. She would just mention him to someone in town. Maybe there was a Sanitarium there and he escaped. No, he would be more dangerous then she thought. He must have been a missing person. Someone in town must be looking for him. That would be easier to believe.

With the thought gone, she turned back to the off ramp and headed toward the town of Silent Hill.

**III.**

About a mile or two down the road, Kristin found a small convenience store. She hadn't seen too many gas stations this small; only one pump and a room with two shelves of snacks and things for cars such as spare oil. The man behind the counter was an older gentleman, maybe around sixty or seventy, definitely a good forty years above Kristin who was only twenty-three. There was another woman in the store with Kristin as well. She was about Kristin's age, browsing through the aisles as though she was lost.

Kristin stopped at the counter with a weak smile on her face.

"Can you help me out?"

The man raised a brow, looking her over.

"The hell happened to you?"

Kristin forgot she must have looked terrible after the accident. She definitely has some stains on her face from the tears, and a few bruises here and there from when the car spun about. She couldn't have looked too bad though.

"My car died just off the highway exit," Kristin lied, "and I was just wondering if you could call a tow truck for me."

"Oh, uh, sure thing miss, give me just a sec here."

The man went through a door behind the counter. Kristin stood patiently waiting for him to return, her fingers clicking against the counter.

"You're car isn't working either?"

Kristin jumped, almost shrieked when she turned to see the woman who was in the aisles suddenly next to her. She hated when people popped up out of nowhere.

"Uh, yeah," Kristin gave off a weak laugh.

"Mine died just a few miles up the road."

"That's nice."

"Not really... no one likes to have something wrong with their car."

"Yes, I suppose..."

Kristin tapped her fingers more, looking away from the woman constantly. The man came out from behind the desk looking puzzled. He sat down and gave a weak smile to Kristin and the other woman.

"Sorry bout that, seems the phone's dead. You're gonna have to walk into town and get some help."

"Alright, thanks," Kristin said.

As she started to walk away, the woman grabbed her arm.

"Please, let me go with you," the woman pleaded.

"Well-"

"I don't want to go alone."

"It's just a bit down the road isn't it, you can-"

"No, I can't."

Kristin snatched her arm back and massaged her forehead. She didn't want the woman's company, she was so awkward and had already scared the living daylights out of Kristin. But why let the walk be lonely with that man out there, near the highway, standing and waiting for another car to hit him. Or maybe he was even looking for Kristin right now.

"Fine, come on."

"Oh, thank you!"

Kristin walked out, and the woman followed gleefully.

"You ladies have a safe walk now, you hear!" the man shouted, sitting back behind the counter. "Jeez, she's the fourth one today."

**IV.**

"I'm Jessica by the way," the woman held her hand out to Kristin as they walked side to side.

"Kristin."

Kristin didn't hold her hand out, and Jessica eventually lowered her. They walked in more silence except for the occasional breeze here and there.

Trees were at each end of the road. The leaves were bright green. No animals ran through the area and no birds chirped. It was probably because the time was late, or early now rather. The feeling it gave Kristin was unsettling though.

"Have you ever been to Silent Hill before?"

Kristin felt shocked when Jessica asked the question. She didn't know why, but she felt for a moment she had been there. She had never been there though, she knew that.

"No, this is my first visit."

"Well Silent Hill is a special place," Jessica smiled as she spoke. "I lived here when I was younger with my family. I was coming to visit them today, I hope nothing has changed."

Kristin couldn't shake the feeling. She hadn't been there, had she?

"The downtown area was still the original design when I left. The store fronts looked nothing like they do in big cities now. It feels like something old and cherished when you walk down the streets. I love it there."

The place was old and didn't feel like the big, new cities. Kristin wanted new, not old. That's what he family was, an old part of her life.

"Though... some people did say some strange things about the town when I lived there."

Kristin looked at her with some worry. "Things like?"

"Well, we had people vanishing all the time."

"Vanishing? Like completely gone?"

Jessica nodded. "The people would be neighbors sometimes, people you knew well. They would just up and disappear and the police couldn't find a trace of them. The oddest was a man that used to live right across the street from me. I was about ten when he poofed."

"Huh..." Kristin's eyes darted about, looking for the man from the highway.

"He was Mr. Deveaux. Nice man. He came over a lot and played board games with my family and I. One day, he just went away though."

"And they never found him?"

"Nope. It was like he was never there."

Kristin sighed. The two stopped at a car parked on the side of the road. Jessica opened the doors and began to rummage through the contents before coming out. In one hand she held a small flashlight, more like a penlight, and in the other was an old fashioned radio.

"This was my car. I planned to wait at the station for my family but they weren't coming, so I just thought I might as well go with you."

"What's with the light and radio?"

Jessica looked down at them, then back up with a weak smile. "Just a tradition, something we believe in from Silent Hill."

"Hardly explains it."

"Well a lot of the people in Silent Hill are superstitious, to say the least," Jessica giggled at the thought, continuing her stride toward the town. "They believe in spirits and such, saying the lights keep them away and the radio will let you know if their coming."

"That sounds stupid."

Kristin rolled her eyes and walked next to Jessica. A heavy fog was beginning to settle around the road.

"Well a lot of people believed it, even some of the police did."

"Still sounds far fetched. I can't believe you continue to carry that stuff around with you."

Kristin could believe it though. She thought Jessica was a complete nut job from most of the stories she had heard so far. A town where people just went up and missing without a single trace. A bunch of people with the spooks, afraid of spirits and other things. Sounded like something from a horrible book she'd find on a clearance rack at Books-A-Million.

"Well then don't worry about it. What you don't believe can't hurt you, right?" Jessica smiled at Kristin, then looked forward into the foggy abyss.

**V.**

He flipped the closed sign on the station door after the two ladies left and locked the deadbolt with a sly grin on his face. It was foolish for either of them to trust a man, even at his age, about a town like Silent Hill. The place had become deserted years ago, almost completely wiped off the map. No one dared to approach it because the place was supposedly haunted or cursed or something along those lines. He didn't believe it though, he was just looking for some easy cash and this was the right place. The buildings were empty and the registers full of bills upon bills. He was going to go home and live the easy life, not having to worry about overspending his retirement.

The register popped open and he gleefully pocketed in the money, getting more and more excited by the vast amounts of bills that were piling out of the drawers. He counted about eight hundred and seventy dollars, more than most of the shops in downtown Silent Hill even carried in their registers. It made him happy.

"Don't worry Lucy, George has the money and he's coming home soon," he spoke, putting the last bit of change in his pocket. "We'll have all the money we need for awhile and more."

The man, George, closed the drawer just as an audible ding rang through the store. He looked up and saw the front door of the convenience store sway open and then close slowly. George slowly stepped out from behind the counter and went to the door. On inspection, he found the lock had been smashed and completely demolished.

Something fell in the far aisle from the door. George looked back toward the aisle and saw a cup of instant soup roll on the floor and clink against the wall. George walked over and picked up the cup of soup, looking it over. In large, black ink, these words were written:

"I KNOW WHAT YOU DID

PUNISH THOSE WHO PUNISH"

George tossed aside the soup and looked around more seeing that no one but himself was inside the store. He could feel his already weak heart beating faster and faster, making him sweat and ache all over. Someone had broken into the store while he was alone and was now threatening him, trying to take away his life. George needed to get the money to his wife though, to Lucy. He needed to get back home to her.

He caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure exiting through the front door. George slowly crept to the door and opened it, looking out toward the street. There was a lone man standing there, wearing a tan trench coat and some dirtied khaki's. The rest of his body was hidden by the sudden build of fog.

"Hey, are you the one that busted the lock?"

The man outside was silent, only facing toward George. George stepped out further and closed the door behind him.

"I'm sure you can read son, the sign said closed. You could have knocked if you wanted to come inside."

The man in the trench coat stuffed a hand in his pocket and spoke up.

"Where was she going?"

"Who?" George asked, his voice shaky.

"The woman who was here earlier." The man in the trench coat began to waltz slowly toward George. "She wants to get away from it all so bad. Her tired feet try to carry her away from the punishment."

"The hell are you talking about boy?"

The man in the trench coat stops before George, obviously about five or six inches taller than him. He was somewhere around six foot three, and George was a messily five foot nine. Even worse, George was obviously afraid, shivering in his place. This man could probably kill him if he wanted to.

"W-what do you want boy?"

"There are those that have wronged me. It left a sore spot in my once warm heart."

George coughed a bit. The man in the trench coat smelt like smoke, and his breath smelled of sulfur. The two odors were irresistible together.

"Of course I have not wronged one man today, and yet you have wronged many today George Young."

George froze in his spot. How did the man know who he was? It was impossible since he hadn't introduced himself to anyone in the area, and he knew that this man as a complete stranger to him.

"I punish those who punish others."

The man in the trench coat grabbed George, and lifted the old man off of his feet. George struggled in the grasp, which felt so warm that it seemed to burn the skin under his clothes.

'Who the hell is this guy!' George thought, panicking more.

"I'm the retribution of man," the man in the trench coat spoke, as though he could hear George's thoughts. "And I'm here to find the one who desires me."


	2. 2: Gardens Hold Promises

**Chapter Two:**

**Gardens Hold Promises**

**I.**

The wind completely died when Kristin and Jessica arrived at the streets of Silent Hill; Kristin felt the town lived up to its name. Not the hill part so much, but definitely the bit about silence. The place was quieter than a morgue. The thought sent a chill through Kristin. Why had it been so quiet in a town such as this, the place where Jessica said she enjoyed her days as a child? It had to be just her imagination, yet it had to be more. Not even a single sole was walking through the area and all of the shops and homes that were visible appeared to be abandoned. Everything was void of any life whatsoever.

"It's gone down over the years," Jessica spoke.

"That so..."

"Yes, it is." Jessica took a few steps forward and stopped. "The town thrived on a mining industry, one of the biggest places for the coal industry. There was a cave-in a few years ago, though, and a lot of the business declined because of it. People left for better opportunities and tried to live better lives. Most of the shops must have had to close."

Kristin has noticed the problems just by looking around. The fog couldn't hide how empty and desolate the town had become. She could not bare to notice how empty the place was either. It scared her, terrified her even.

"Why don't I take you to my place and you can call someone for help?"

Kristin smiled. "Yeah. I would like that."

"Alright. It's not too far from here so don't worry about the walk too much."

The two walked toward the right, staying on the sidewalk. A few stores had boards put across the doors and windows, and some homes looked as though they were broken into. Kristin looked at Jessica and saw she was frowning.

"Hey... it's not all that bad," Kristin spoke with a weak smile.

"I know. I wish it was just how I left it. Nothing seems like it had been. The place just seems to be in shambles and ruin."

"Well, you know, we all have to accept change."

"Wouldn't it be better if things could stay the same?"

Kristin shuddered at the thought. She didn't want to be at home, same arguments day in and day out. The same was just a nightmare.

"I prefer change."

Jessica looked up at the sky. Kristin continued their pace.

"I wonder if anyone else has returned..."

Kristin looked at Jessica, puzzled.

"Anyone else?"

"Yeah. I used to have a few friends here in town. Lost touch with them awhile back. I wonder if they ever came back to Silent Hill like me."

"Probably." Kristin shrugged her shoulders.

"There were places that our parents always told us to avoid though."

Kristin looked at her, confused once more. She thought that Jessica loved the ENTIRE town of Silent Hill. Were there places she had never gone to?

"Like what?"

"Mom always told me to avoid the hospital a few blocks down from here. She said the place always had terrifying people there."

"Huh. Always thought hospitals had sick people."

Jessica laughed a bit. "No no no, not that kind of hospital. It was a Sanitarium. The crazy people were always locked up on the premises, saying something about someone was after him. They called him the Sulfur Man."

"The Sulfur Man?"

"I don't know. The people were crazy."

Jessica laughed some more, and Kristin let out some weak chuckles. She didn't know why she had even agreed to follow Jessica to her house. What if her family was completely like her, making the place even more unbearable.

The two stopped at a paved walkway to a two story home. It was wide, looking like it could house at least three people on each floor. The lights were out, and two cars were parked in the driveway next to the home. A small stone sat at the end of the walkway indicating this was the residence of the Anderson family.

"Home sweet home," Jessica muttered weakly.

"Something wrong?"

"I called earlier to let them know they were coming, and they sounded so happy. I just... are they even home?"

Kristin noticed that the lights were off in the house. No movement around the windows either. The entire structure seemed abandoned except for some furniture that Kristin could spot through the window.

"I'll go knock..."

Kristin waited at the end of the walkway. A few moments later, Jessica came back, quite disgruntled.

"Why aren't they here?"

"Know where they might be?"

"Yeah... I do..." Jessica shook her head thinking. "I'm going to head down to the other end of town. You'll want to head a different way."

Jessica pointed down a street nearby.

"Down there is an auto repair shop. Someone there should be able to help you out."

"Thanks..."

Kristin sighed, and walked to the street. She might have felt weird about Jessica and walking about with her, but Kristin was terrified more of being alone in this strange town.

**II.**

The town was even more silent without Jessica there to tell her about the random on-goings of the place. Everything was empty; no animals ran through the town or flew in the sky, and the fog obscured all view of the area. Kristin couldn't want more than anything for someone to be out there, someone to talk to while she tried to spot the automotive place.

As though someone or something could hear her thoughts, Kristin saw someone just a few feet away. It was a woman, smaller than she was, but definitely a woman. She was standing in front of some garden store, holding a watering canister as she went by the storefront and watered the flowers at the store front. Getting closer, Kristin noticed that it was a gardening store. The woman most likely worked there.

"Um, excuse me," Kristin said as she approached the woman.

The woman turned, a faint grin on her face as she saw Kristin. The woman appeared a bit younger, but not too much younger.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little lost. I'm looking for a car repair place around here, am I going the right way?"

"Oh, yes you are," The woman said, setting her canister down on a nearby table. "The repair shop is only a few more blocks down the road. Something happen to your car?"

"Just broke down on the highway."

The woman went to the table, almost instinctively it seemed to Kristin, and watched her pull a chair out from the other side. Kristin didn't remember seeing chairs at the table.

"Please, have a seat. You must be tired from that walk."

"Oh no, I couldn't."

"No no, please. I'll grab you something to eat from inside."

The woman rushed off into the shop. Kristin didn't want to impose, but she didn't want to ignore the kindness of the woman. She decided to take a seat and wait for the woman, her feet were a bit tired from the walk anyways.

The woman emerged from the shop with a plate and a fine looking sandwich. She seemed eager to get back out, almost too eager, so she could help Kristin. Why was she even so adamant on being so nice, so much like Jessica had been. She pulled out the chair from the other end, another chair Kristin couldn't remember seeing before, and sat down with Kristin. The woman then handed the sandwich to her.

"I'm Tiffanie by the way," The woman said with glee. Her face was as bright as a summer's day.

"Kristin," she said in between bites of the sandwich.

"So have you ever visited Silent Hill before?"

"No, this is my-" she stopped, swallowing a bit of the sandwich, "first time here."

"Ah, well I'm sorry it had to be now of all times. We're on hard times, which I'm sure you know about. Seems that keeps the people out of town."

Kristin ate the last bit of the sandwich and breathed in deep. She was full and ready to go and get out of this weird town.

"You don't have a radio?"

Kristin stopped at the mention of the radio. First Jessica, and now this Tiffanie.

"No, I don't."

"You may want one."

"I don't need one."

Kristin stood herself, somewhat irritated from the mention of the radio. She didn't like how crazily fixated these people were on myths and legends.

"Oh I'm sure you will."

"Why's that?"

"Well, on days like this, people always disappear from the town. Vanishing without a trace of where they went. Eventually people begin to forget who they were, and those that remember get dragged down with them."

Kristin shook her head and gave a sigh of frustration.

"I don't believe in stuff like that."

Tiffanie giggled, holding onto the table.

"Really now? Fine, come over here."

Tiffanie stood, and began walking down the street a bit. Kristin followed her to a bulletin board. On there were several dozen of missing posters put up on the bulletin board. Children, adults, the elderly, almost everyone was going missing, at least what the posting had shown. No wonder the town had gone completely empty.

"This is... horrible..."

"It gets worse every day too. Nobody can find anyone or they just go missing so we lock ourselves up in hopes that we too won't go missing."

"You don't do that though?"

Tiffanie nodded. "If I vanished, I know someone would come looking for me no matter what. I'm sure he'd find me."

Kristin took a closer look at the board. She remembered a name that Jessica had mentioned, Henry Deveaux. She wondered if he would be on this board of missing people. The name never did pop up on the board though. None of the missing people's sheets matched his name.

"Hey, do you know a-" Kristin stopped short. When she turned to look at Tiffanie, she wasn't there.

"I could have sworn... she was just here..." Kristin muttered.

**III.**

Her heart is pounding when she reaches the repair shop only to find the door standing wide open and the lot completely abandoned. Kristin couldn't believe it, the place that was going to be her hope and escape had become an empty building. Nobody was there to repair her car. Nobody was there to call a truck. She wouldn't be able to leave the town and would be stuck here until Jessica could find her parents. They would surely help Kristin, call a cab or even a tow truck for her. They would understand that she wouldn't stay here any longer.

This was a lie of course; Kristin could always pull out her phone and call for help. Depend on her family again to bail her out just so she could be escorted back home. Back to a place that was no better than the conception of hell to others. She wasn't sure if that was even worth it.

Yet there was little to no point in staying in Silent Hill anymore. The place was beginning to feel like home for some reason. This place felt void of a friendly pressence, constantly one way and then another in a split second. She could leave here and go back home, and once back there, escape once again. Kristin would just never drive by Silent Hill again. She did not want to break down near this place again.

The phone was still working, full service and connected to the satellites way above her. Kristin envied them; those devices could escape earth. She dialed her father first. It rang twice, and then someone picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

The other end of the conversation was quiet. Kristin could barely make out the sound of breathing. Soon enough the noise got louder and louder, turning into heavy pants. She couldn't really understand what was going on with the other end of the phone call. Her father's phone must have answered itself somehow and her father didn't realize.

Kristin hung up the phone. She looked through her contacts. Completely ignored the number for her mother, her sister, and didn't want to risk a call to the house. Her father may not pick up the phone before anyone else.

The next option would be to dial emergency services. Maybe someone would be able to help her, and maybe they wouldn't notice her from a missing person's poster. A chance was a chance. She dialed 9-1-1. The phone rang once and the other line answered.

"Nine one one, what's your emergency?"

"Um, hello. My car has broken down."

"Name and location?"

"I'm Kristin Russell," She answered, and then began to release some um's as she tried to spot a sign relating to her location she found a street sigh, Kate Ave, and the numbers on the auto body shop, 249. "249 Kate Ave in Silent Hill, Nevada."

"Just a moment Kristin. I'll transfer you over to someone who can help you."

The call was transferred and some music began to play over the phone. The tunes were something of the yester-years and made more of an annoyance for a phone call rather than a patient wait. Kristin leaned against the wall of the shop and waited for the call to end the transfer. Eventually it went through, but Kristin could only hear silence on the other end.

"Hello?" She asked weakly.

"Where were you running to?" A rough voice answered on the line.

Kristin's eyes widened and her heart beat even faster than before. Did the police know that she was on the run? Had they found the poster? She shouldn't have given them her real name. They must have searched her name in the database after she said her name.

"I once tempted fate as well."

Kristin remained silent. She could feel something building in her throat. She couldn't swallow it.

"I came back... After they said I was gone. They thought I would be gone forever. They thought I vanished like the rest of those people. I'm not like them though. I'm tied to someone."

Kristin looked up, and covered her mouth as soon as she saw a man standing across the street from her. In his right hand he held a phone. He wore a large trench coat. His face was covered by some shadows, maybe by the fedora that he wore. Kristin could see his mouth though.

"Will you still run?" Kristin watched his mouth move to the words she heard on the phone.

Her cell dropped from her hands, and Kristin sprinted down the road away from the man. She couldn't see him following her, but she was going to put as much distance between her and this man. Kristin wasn't going to get caught by him.

**IV.**

"Help me!"

Kristin wasn't sure anyone would hear her yelling for help, but she felt as though she had to try and call out for help. The man could be tailing her, following her patiently. Hoping to corner her, take her back home, take her back to an inferno that was not like this one. She wasn't ready to give up just yet though. She was going to get away from the man. Kristin was determined. Her feet would carry her.

She turned a corner and continued to run. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, burning with each breath that she took. Kristin knew it would be her lungs that gave out before the rest of her body. They would cause her to stop.

Or so she had thought. The man from before popped out from behind a corner in the direction Kristin was heading. She fell backwards, panting and whining as she pulled herself farther away from the man.

"I don't understand you Kristin. Why are you running?"

She whined more, pulling herself up with the building beside her. Kristin then turned and began to run the other direction. She didn't care where this was leading her. Kristin had to get away from the man as soon as possible. She wasn't even sure who he was even. Was he even really a police officer? If he wasn't how was he the transfer Kristin received? Nothing was making sense.

The next turn led her to a police station, the lights inside were lit and the door was open. Kristin couldn't help but turn and run into the station. She grabbed at the door, closing it and twisting the lock to keep the door closed.

The man banged against the glass door right after the lock clicked. Kristin screamed, jumped backwards and landed in a seat behind her. He banged again, and hollered out something that sounded like gibberish before walking off. Kristin clung to herself, cradling in the chair that she had landed in after the scare.

"I don't want to be here anymore..." she muttered. "I want to go away..."


	3. 3: An End to Peace

**Chapter Three:**

**An End to Peace**

**I.**

Kristin had never felt so much terror in her life. The man outside was something far from human, superior in some facets and terrifying in many others. The smell that reached out from the man was unbearable too. Kristin had smelled sulfur before from Saint Augustine, Florida, when she had lived there. Sulfur was something common in all the water outlets. The man, though, made the smell something horrible rather than nasty.

"I have to get out of here..." Kristin mumbled.

She stood up, dusting off her clothes while looking around the small room. It was some kind of reception area for people who walked-in. There were built-in benches with blue cushions on the wall, and at the end of each segment was a potted plant. Across from the benches was a desk, rounded to touch one wall and then another. There was no receptionist behind the desk, which Kristin didn't expect there to be anyone inside, and scattered pamphlets across the top.

The layout didn't matter though. Kristin wasn't planning on staying inside long anyways. With the man away from the entrance she was free to head out and run away from town.

That's when her hand reached for the lock and found it had altered. Instead of a turning lock, the keyhole seemed to be on Kristin's side.

"This isn't right..." Kristin panicked, now trying to force the door to open. "I turned the lock! I know I did!"

She turned back toward the room. There was the far double doors leading further inside, but that's not what Kristin wanted. She wanted out from here. Kristin knew the potted plants would be enough too. The door was glass, and the pot was made out of some hard, ceramic material.

The plant crashed through the glass, a loud shatter breaking the silence of the room. Kristin was so ecstatic. But she noticed something. When Kristin had blinked after the shatter, it all changed, or rather reverted. The glass was the same. The plant was back where she had grabbed it from. There was one change though. The words on the glass. They read:

"We HaVe RuLeS yOu KnOw..."

A blanket of despair flooded Kristin's face again. The window broke, she saw it. The plant had gone outside, but now it's back.

"This isn't right! No! I want out!"

Kristin charged at the door, pounding on the glass upon arrival as tears poured down her cheeks. This town, Silent Hill, wasn't something she had been looking for. Kristin was just hoping to run away from home. That stupid car outside though, if it hadn't broke then she wouldn't be stuck in this building, possibly being hunted by a crazed man with the appearance of a demon.

Almost, as though the world around Kristin could hear her thoughts, the door at the other end of the room started the creak open. Kristin froze at the sound, but had turned quick enough to see the door slowly opening itself.

On instinct, her legs quivered up to a standing position and slowly but surely Kristin started toward the door. On her left, Kristin could see a note taped to the door. It was some sheet paper. Something torn out of a notebook. She wondered why the paper had been taped there like that, idly waiting on the door that was calling her.

Kristin ripped the paper off, and read it aloud:

"To whomever finds this,

I've run away. I couldn't handle all the torment and abuse any longer. Day in and day out there was no escape from everything you all put me through. I didn't want to deal with it any longer. None of you deserve me or treat me right and that's why I'm leaving! Hope you all realize what left!"

'This is...' Kristin crushed the note in her hand. 'I wrote this when I was fourteen. When I first ran away...'

She tossed the note into the reception room and walked further in. Kristin wasn't going to look back at it or even question why the note was here now. Nothing made sense when she came to Silent Hill.

**II.**

The place was deserted, something expected after leaving the reception area and finding no one and nothing helpful. Along the walls were anti-drug and gang posters promoting a safer and cleaner Silent Hill. The offices were ridiculously barren compared to that, just desks with a chair and empty filing cabinets. Despite there being no one to talk to or anything for Kristin to really defend herself with, the need for information was even more important to her. Kristin wanted to know what was going on. Why had the town become so empty? The station looked like it had life, but the life was being slowly sucked out from it.

At the far end was an arms and ammunition room. Kristin found most of the lockers and shelves empty, but she did come across a small form on the desk. She recognized a name off of it, an Officer Hunter, who had been sent out to find her the first time Kristin ran away. She didn't remember him being from Silent Hill though.

"Maybe he worked here..." Kristin said with a broken smile. "Maybe I'm just seeing things again."

Kristin tossed the note aside and continued through the lockers. After an exhaustive search, she came across a pistol hidden away. She'd never fired a gun and barely had any experience with them, but she knew it was deadly enough to scare others away. Kristin might have been able to use it to scare away the man outside.

Then she heard it. Slow and steady at first, but someone was breathing inside the room with Kristin. The person couldn't have just entered since the door was obviously inaccessible, and the station had been completely empty from when Kristin checked the rooms. The foreign breaths were still circulating in the atmosphere.

She turned and pointed the gun behind her.

"Nothing..." Kristin muttered, looking into the empty room.

She turned back around, and immediately screamed. He hadn't been there before, dangling from the ceiling with open eyes and a slit throat. His feet were tied to something above, though Kristin couldn't look what was holding the man up out of fear.

Her feet reacted on there own. Kristin was running out of the room and down the hall again toward the entrance.

"I'll shoot the god damn lock!" Kristin yelled. "I hate this place!"

A door from the side burst open and sent Kristin back. She looked up to see someone, no something, stumbling out from the room. The being was human-like, but so mutilated that the being was no longer human. The arms were cut or torn from the body, all she could tell was the arms weren't there any longer. The legs were long, something like a gazelle's in grace. The face had the same eyes, ears, and nose as a person, but the mouth was so different; The ends were ripped apart only held together by some delicate looking threads. Every moment Kristin looked at that mouth all she could think was the monster was grinning, why had it been grinning.

The thing shrieked out like a banshee, creating cracks in the foundation of the police station. Kristin wasted no time getting to her feet again, shoving the monster aside and racing toward the front door.

'If I can get to the door, I can break the lock. If I can break the lock, I'll be out of here.'

Kristin peeked behind her, and watched the monster sprinting toward her. The thing was fast, faster than she could run. She only had to beat it to the door though. If Kristin could get there, she knew she'd be able to get out of the monsters view.

But then her feet failed. Kristin tripped on the tile, her shoes unable to move over the surface quite as fast as the pavement outside. She spun, twisting her ankle and landing front first on the floor.

The beast didn't let up either. Kristin felt the it grab her from behind; she wasn't sure with what, but the thing was lifting her up off the floor by her head. She panicked, forcing her body to contort in ways in hopes that the monster would let go of her. Kristin couldn't find enough energy though to fight against the grasp of the beast.

"I don't want to die," Kristin mumbled, spitting out words through small bursts of tears.

The beast turned Kristin to face it. She could see that horrid grin plastered on its face, stretching against the sack of skin holding it all together. The grin grew and grew, fighting against the threads holding it together till it looked like a snake about to devour it's prey, to devour Kristin.

"PLEASE HELP ME!"

Gun fire broke over her cry for help.

**III.**

The monster broke into a frantic state, and another gun shot was fired from somewhere nearby. Kristin couldn't tell through the shrieking of the beast as it fell, dropping Kristin along with it. Blood flowed from the seemingly dead body, slowly covering Kristin. She was too afraid to rise up from her spot. What the if the gunman was crazy like everything else in this town, despite saving her. He may shoot her dead just as he shot the monster.

"You gonna stay down there all day?"

The voice was soft for a males, not too soft but definitely not quite as deep as Kristin was expecting from the man who just saved her. He almost sounded friendly.

"Well, pardon me for saving you then."

"Wait!"

Kristin sat up from the puddle, unable to bear the need for companionship any longer. She could see he was ordinary like her. Blond hair, a pistol like hers in his hand aiming toward the ground. Kristin didn't remember seeing him in here.

"Well now, someone normal. A nice change from everything else in this town," he said, looking around cautiously.

"How-" Kristin shook her head, trying to form the words. "How did you get in here?"

"What?" He asked, sounding confused. "What the hell do you mean? I just opened the door and walked in."

"But - but it was locked when I went there."

He stopped to think, or at least Kristin though with the way his hand reached for his chin. He stayed like that for a couple of moments before snapping his fingers and laughing to himself.

"That's right, I didn't come in through the front," he chuckled, looking at her now with raised brows. "That's what you meant right, the front door was locked."

"Y-yeah, that's right."

"I tried opening it after that weird guy came after me. Smelled like sulfur. Strange." He leaned on the wall, looking as though he were pondering once again. "I opened the back door though to get away from him. It should still be unlocked."

Kristin stood, putting her arm out onto the wall for support. Her ankle was killing her. Kristin should have known that would have happened too. She was so clumsy in life. She actually fell when she was running away from the police for the first time. Twisted the same ankle in fact.

"The name's Patrick by the way," the man said, looking at her now.

"Kristin."

"Well, Kristin, how about we get out of here?" Patrick stood off the wall and started to approach her. "I think it might be a tad bit safer outside than it is in here."

She nodded, and leaned on him when he approached for support.

"Have you met anyone else here?" Kristin asked.

"Nope."

"Strange..."

"Why?"

Kristin shook her head. "You're the third person I've met here today. I'm surprised anyone is here with things like that walking around."

"Uh-huh."

Patrick kept her up, and Kristin was thankful for that, but more so glad to hear another person's voice for once. She would have killed to see Jessica again, to see Tiffanie again, if it meant not being alone in this town. Now she had Patrick, probably the most dependable person here.

"I came here looking for someone," Patrick grimaced as he spoke.

"Who's that?"

"Someone special," Patrick shook his head. "I don't know though, every moment feels like I'm running further from her though."

Kristin smiled.

"I find myself running away too."

"From what?"

"My family," she spoke plainly, but the smile didn't fade. "They used to chase me down all the time, but I think, maybe, this time, I may get away.

**IV.**

The back entrance was a parking lot for the police cruisers. About four or five were out there, with some fifteen spaces empty. Kristin found it funny that the cars weren't all there for some reason. Had they all gone out before this tragedy hit the town. Had the police actually tried to help people when whatever happened here occurred. Had they gone out to look for lost girls like herself.

Patrick led her to a far gate opening. It was the only entrance and exit to the lot with a fence leading up to at least thirteen feet high. Probably to keep people out of the lot. It only served to keep the two inside at the moment.

"This wasn't here before," Patrick pointed to a padlock on the gate.

"That's what happened with me," Kristin replied, shaking her head. "the door to the front, the lock did twist from the inside. Then, I looked down at it again, and it was a keyhole. This place hardly makes any sense."

"Uh-huh..." Patrick grabbed at his chin again.

"Try shooting it off?"

"No. Waste of ammo."

Patrick raised the butt of his gun and banged against the lock about three or four times before the lock popped off. He smiled.

Then he frowned. Kristin noticed it too. The moment it seemed to have popped off, the lock was back on the fence keeping the gate closed.

"This defies all the physics I know," Patrick laughed. "This is incredible."

"It's retarded."

"No, think about it," Patrick thought to himself. "Everything here is illogical and logical at the same time."

"So... what?"

"We're approaching this all wrong, this isn't the way to open the lock."

"That's right..."

Kristin recognized the last voice and froze in place. Her heart beat fast, like it had when she first met with the sulfur man. That was his voice too. Why was he here of all places, waiting for them to leave the police station.

Patrick turned to point the gun off in the distance. Kristin saw the sulfur man come out from behind a car, slowly approaching the both of them. The smell was stronger now too, almost radiating off of him like an animation of a smelly cartoon character.

"This place has rules."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Patrick held his gun steady, pointing toward the sulfur man.

"Follow the town, and all is fine."

Kristin pulled herself to be behind Patrick. She never liked to be in front with a situation. She always ran away. That's how she confronted fears. No head on approach, just simply run away.

"An appropriate reaction is met with an appropriate response."

Her eyes widened as Patrick's arm contorted backwards. Patrick was letting out some painful grunts.

'What the hell is going on!' she thought to herself.

The sulfur man stopped next to Patrick, and smacked him halfway across the parking lot. He landed with a loud thud, eyes closed and most likely knocked out. Kristin couldn't tell though, she was more afraid for her life than the life of another.

"Don't you want to run away Kristin?"

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed, raising her pistol.

The first pull only resulted in an empty click. Each trigger click resulted in an empty sound of nothing. Kristin never thought to check the gun because she didn't know how to. She never thought it would be empty. Not even now. She could only keep pulling the trigger and backing further away.

"It's pathetic," the sulfur man shook his head. "I try to give you a gift, the _town_ tries to give you a gift, and this is how you thank us?"

Kristin felt her back hit the wall. She clutched at the wall, hoping each moment that it would disappear from behind her and she could just keep running.

"I'll show you want happens when one does not accept our gifts."

The world began to shake around Kristin. Her vision becoming more and more hazy, darkening like a cloud of smoke was suddenly rising.

"May you realize your mistake."

AN: So I've created my first monster, and I call it "The Gazelle". It was the monster that Patrick had shot in this chapter. I'm going to try and introduce the names of the monsters with the story, but it may not happen. Just thought I'd name it for anyone interested in the concept behind it.


End file.
